Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them: meet the cast

It’s certainly a great time to be a Harry Potter fan. Not only is a stage-based sequel due out next year in the form of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child; we are now getting more details about upcoming movie prequel Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, centring around the adventures of ‘magizoologist’ Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne).

Firstly, the story itself will concern Scamander travelling to the US, carrying a case containing a whole bunch of creatures he’s collecting from around the world (by the sounds of it it’ll make the TARDIS look like a bedsit). However, accidents happen, and a whole bunch of his creatures escape – which is especially a problem in the US, where the wizards face much from danger from muggles, who are known as ‘No-Maj’ to them.

As regards the principle cast, here’s a quick breakdown:

1)Porpentina ‘Tina’ Goldstein

Played by Katherine Waterson, She is described in EW as “An ambitious worker at the Magical Congress of the United States of America [aka MACUSA, the US version of the Ministry of Magic] who meets Newt. Tina is relegated to an office well below her abilities after she stood up for the wrong person. She longs to fight for what’s right.” We’re getting a definite Hermione vibe from her, and by the sounds of it she’s being primed for a close working relationship with Newt – and perhaps something more.

2) Queenie Goldstein

Described as “Tina’s younger sister and roommate, a big-hearted free-spirit ‘legilimens’ who can read minds”, Alison Sudol’s character possesses the same ability as wizards like Dumbledore and Snape, hinting at a powerful magical ability. As far as the old cast goes, she sounds like a bit of a cross between Ginny and Luna to us.

3) Jacob Kowalski

Played by Dan Fogler, he’s the first main muggle character in the story, who becomes involved in the magical world when he meets Newt. Other than that, not a huge amount about his character has been revealed – although considering Fogler’s past roles, we can see his contribution being geared more towards comic relief.

4) Graves
A powerful auror (dark wizard hunter, like Moody, Kingsley and Tonks), he’s being played by Colin Farrell (not a goblin, as was previously rumoured). He’s the right-hand man of the US wizarding president, although that doesn’t guarantee that he’s a good guy – remember how Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge became an antagonist in Order Of The Phoenix.

5) Mary Lou
Described as “The narrow-minded leader of the fanatical Second Salemers, a group looking to expose and destroy wizards and witches”, Samantha Morton’s character looks like she’ll be the primary antagonist. Nice to see a nod to real-life magic-related events in the form of the Salem Witch Trials too.

6) Credence
Played by future Flash Ezra Miller and described as Mary Lou’s “troubled son”, we’re taking ‘troubled’ to be shorthand for ‘wizard’. Well, that’s our theory in any case.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will be released in cinemas on 18 November 2016. You can download Harry Potter: The Complete Manual from GreatDigitalMags.com now.